Things We Lost in the Fire
by Nova Bucker
Summary: Memories are fickle things, they're responsible for who we are, what we do, how we act, and in their absence? What's left for the survivors, but to scavenge the ruins of mysterious circumstance? To push forward into the treacherous unknown? But sometimes, in order to move forward, we must go back. Life won't pull its punches, so neither will he and at least he's not in this alone.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** To all the veterans, you know the drill, I, the author of this fanfic, don't own shit, and am broke as fuck, here's the disclaimer for the ENTIRE fic, thus I don't need to put it in every chapter for the rest of the fanfic.

**A/N:** Hello party peoples! This fic is part of a shared universe/series of fanfics that I'm writing, the universe/fanfic series is called 'Distorted Horizons' and can be found in a series listing crossposted in Ao3 (to the uninitiated that is ' ') under my other penname 'Markala.' The universe itself is a multi-crossover but most of the fics thus far are not in the crossovers sections 'cause the fics up so far don't have fandom overlap. To my first 'Big Hero 6' fanfic! This fic is basically like most of the 'Distorted Horizons' fanfics, AU, because this movie made me cry, so read, enjoy and review to tell me what you think, ciao! :)

**UPDATED: **4/16/15 (Eheheh, so I found a bunch of continuity mistakes/errors that were in original drafts that I didn't intend to leave and the original Final Draft file got corrupted so I had to rewrite parts of the chapter, including the fixing of the awkward/clunky dialogue, sorry guys, my bad).

* * *

**Prologue**

_Bwwwshhhh-bwwwsh…_

"Soooo, hey guy I don't know…"

_Bwwwsh-bwshhh._

"The name's Amaya, but everyone calls me Amy-"

_Bwwshhh-bwshh._

"I love all the colors, but I especially have a liking to red, green and cherry blossom pink. I love painting and animals... I have kids, they're all a bunch of little hellraisers in their own special way, but they're my boys you know?"

_Bwwshhhh-bwshhh._

"You're one lucky son of a bitch," fingers roughly comb through their owner's snowy white locks, "you were in a bad enough way to need skin grafts you know? Not on body parts that anyone really look at on a daily basis, but still. I'd drink to the possibility of you not needing physical therapy, but I already have a hangover from last night's bar crawl and I think my liver's on strike."

_Bwwshh-bwshh._

"I've had physical therapy with the Doc before, she's a scary bitch. Do yourself a favor and try to skip the need for PT, it sucks balls."

_Bwwshhh-bwshh._

"Well, enough about me," the female voice declares airily, "we're gonna be seeing a lot of each other, at while I'm assigned here."

_Bwwsh-bwshh._

"Anyhoo, you should stick around, 'cause the Boss-Lady went through a lotta trouble to keep you from biting the dust." Then the young woman puts down the magazine she'd been flipping through.

_Bwwwwshhh-bwssshhh._

"Now remember, she's a hardass, and she isn't very tolerant of failure. But, she's good to her people and she rewards good work-" the chatter pauses, "within reason."

_Bwwshh-bwshhh._

"So don't freak out when you meet her, 'cause she took care of everything, even if she makes you feel like one of those pinned butterflies in a display box."

_Bwwshh-bwshh._

"Wake up soon alright? As much as I love haunting your dreams, I'd really like to meet properly." A chair slides noisily, bright eyes sliding over the unconscious form on the bed, and the girl sighs, "I'm gonna go down the hall to eat something, don't get an infection in your skin grafts and die while I'm gone hai(1)?"

_Bwwshh-bwiiishhh._

The woman laughs to herself, "Doc-san'll have my hide for a throw rug if you died on my watch."

_Bwiish-bwshhh._

The young lady leaves, and the door slams shut behind her.

_Bwsssh-bwshh…_

Minutes pass, and a pair of eyelids twitch.

_Bwiish-bwshh._

Eventually, dark eyes flutter open, and blink at the harsh, eerily flickering light.

_Bwshh-bwshhh._

The door swings open, and the eyes squint at the tall, feminine figure as she enters the room.

"_Whhhrr …"_

_Bwiishh-bwshh._

"Kuso(2), you're awake."

"_Whrrrm… I?"_ A male voice gargles painfully around the tube in his windpipe.

"Well, first of all, you shouldn't talk with the ventilator in your windpipe," the young woman admonished playfully as she toys with the edges of her red woolen sweater.

Black eyes narrow in confusion.

"Oh! And you were in an accident, involving fire, and a building, that was on fire too." She babbles as she was rocking on her heels. "You just got outta surgery a few weeks ago, and ohayou gozaimasu(3), I'm Amaya, I prefer Amy though, nice to finally meet you."

"_Whhrrrrg-"_ the young man gurgles.

"What did I say about talking through your ventilator?" Amy reprimands, hands on her hips, "I'm gonna get the Doc and see if we can't do something 'bout that, I'll be right back, so don't move ne(4)?"

Sometime later a grumbling Doctor removes the ventilator, the young man breathing on his own once more. His eyes fluttering shut, slumbering peacefully once more through what Amy knew to be the perfect cocktail of the good hospital drugs.

The white-haired woman's mind drifts, she still had to show up to that conference thing tomorrow, then groceries, and her head was _still _throbbing, _'I need to stop letting the guys talk me into their bar crawls, my liver'll thank me.' _

_Clack-clack-clack._

Amy's shoulders stiffen in attention and she spun around, and her eyes widen and she bows at the waist quickly.

"Jorogumo-sama."

The visitor was a little shorter than Amy, austere, thirty-something, possibly forty year-old, Japanese woman with dark eyes and black hair held in a tight bun atop her head. Hers was a countenance of knife-edged poise and composure, with her sharp business wear, sensible heels, and light dusting of makeup.

"At ease my dear." Straight, perfect teeth flash a congenial smile as well-manicured hands type away at a cellphone. "So I heard that our mystery man is awake."

Amy quietly recounts to herself all the events that had occurred within the past weeks and beyond, and she remembered-

And nearly doubles over as searing hot pain shot through her skull, and she groans as her hangover headache quickly morphs into a skull-splitting migraine of epic proportions.

"Migraine again?" Jorogumo's silky voice intoned, everything was fuzzy and Amy's eyes water.

"Yeah, and he was, awake I mean." Amy grit out as she practically digs her fisted knuckles into her temples as the pain jacks up almost six-fold.

"You know that-"

Amy couldn't even hear herself think! Something familiar, remembering something-

"Everything-!" Amy grits out as she sat down hard on the floor, cradling her head and shaking as the pain seemed to only sharpen. Her skull feels like it was being flayed! "Gets. Worse. Before. It. Gets. Bett-"

…-!

And suddenly, relief, the pain ebbs, her breath stutters and the pain loses its edge. Amy feels better, shaky, but the migraine was waning, which is good, she can't really remember what she'd been thinking about… She decides that it probably wasn't all that important anyway.

"Take some pills and sleep like a normal human being for once." Jorogumo's silky voice takes on a more authoritative-yet-motherly tone.

"Nice to know you still care about us little people Jorogumo-sama." Amy comments, pulling herself shakily from the floor and into a bedside chair, "but yeah, Doc-san did a good job."

"Don't let her hear that," the woman says with a small chuckle, "she has a big enough head as it is."

"I was under the impression that her ego was self-sustaining," Amy rubs the back of her head as she snickered, "anyhoo, yeah, the guy was awake a little bit ago."

"Good news then." Jorogumo seats herself primly in another nearby chair.

"He's asleep again though."

"He's healing," the suited woman assures with a nod, "but when he does get out of the bed and out and about, he'll be your responsibility."

"Wait what-?!"

"I'm taking you off your previous assignment and the triplets will handle it." The woman then allows an amused chuckle to escape at the consternation marring the young lady's features. "No need to look so put out, it doesn't suit you."

"Is it 'cause of the migraines?" Amy asks as her face flushed with embarrassment, "I promise it won't impede my work, they've been getting bett-"

"Of course it won't," the elder woman amends, "but you've been taking more and more assignments as of late, and quite frankly, Kuchisake-san is tired of seeing you in her bay."

Amy sighs in defeat, then a look of curiosity steals over her face, "what's so important 'bout this guy anyway?"

"I am wont to nice things from time to time," Jorogumo spoke, dark eyes flickering to the sleeping form on the hospital bed, "and who knows? He may find a place with us, should he so choose."

"What can he do?" Amy questions curiously.

"That remains to be seen." A cellphone vibrates, and then she stands, "keep me and the good Doctor posted on his status, and alert me once he can hold a conversation."

"Gotcha Boss-La- I-I mean," Amy stumbles over her words, "Jorogumo-sama."

"Good." Jorogumo answers with a hint of amusement. "And Amaya-san, go home early tonight, I'm sure you sons would be happy to see you early."

"They would and Kuro too." Amy adds with a serious expression, curiously, Jorogumo-sama never referred to Kuro directly, like the fact that he wasn't Amy's biological son made him unmentionable in good conversation.

It still baffled Amy to be honest.

"And Kuro," Jorogumo added with a smile that didn't quite re-

Amy watches as the woman left, with her head and her ears ringing as the clicking of the black heels grew fainter and fainter until there was nothing but silence left as Amy sat down and munched her previously-abandoned sandwich with a renewed gusto.

OOOOO

'_Where-?'_

Eyes flutter open.

'_Where am…' _A young man thought groggily. _'Where's H-'_

'_It's okay, everything's alright now, forget about it'_

The world was bright, too bright, like fire- Fire… Fire?

'_There is no fire, not here.'_

"Konbanwa chiisana enjinia(5)." Silky voice soothes, but he can't focus, and everything was hazy, like his head was stuffed full of cotton. He just woke up, but he's, tired, very…

'_Sleep.'_

So.

'_Rest now.'_

Tired.

'_Everything's going to be alright.'_

He sleeps.

OOOOO

Two days later a young man's eyes fluttered open to gaze at a white-haired woman he could have sworn looked familiar.

He blinked.

She was tall woman, the top of her head at least cresting six feet, with short snowy white locks and amber eyes that practically glittered beneath the flickering light. Her facial structure somehow managed to look both sharp and soft at the same time and her smile both toothy and wolfish. Her long limbs moved with a sort of lithe grace around the room, her gait smooth and light-footed. She had on a pair of well-worn jeans and a light green turtleneck and was currently scuffing the floor with her patchy-looking converse imitations.

"H- Hu-Hello?" He croaked out, catching her attention almost immediately.

"Well, good morning sleeping beauty," the woman flashed him a wild grin, addressing him casually, "I'm gonna be totally honest with you, you were pretty crispy when you got here, and probably will have some scarring or something when the bandages come off, but from what I've seen, you'll still be pretty sexy afterward if not sexier, oh and the name's Amaya, but everyone calls me Amy, what's yours?"

He shook her hand almost dazedly while trying to digest the situation, "It's nice to meet you too, I'm-"

He pauses, and his brain stuttered to a stop, and he could even feel the beginnings of a headache.

"I'm-"

It was on the tip of his tongue, why couldn't he-

"You're?" Amy tried unhelpfully.

The young man sighed, he knew he was Japanese-American, he was nineteen years old, his birthday was, was… Okay, he liked eating, um….? His name was-

…

'_Damn.'_ He thought as his mind was drew a complete blank.

"I don't know."

He couldn't remember.

He couldn't remember _anything_.

* * *

**Translation/s (courtesy of Google Translate/Google, if anyone who actually speaks the language has a better translation to donate feel free):**

(1) Hai? = (Japanese) Okay/yes?

(2) Kuso = (Japanese) Shit/crap/fuck [it's basically just a general cuss word]

(3) ohayou gozaimasu = (Japanese, formal) Good morning

(4) Ne? = (Japanese) Right?

(5) Konbanwa chiisana enjinia. = (Japanese, [Thanks for correction goes to 'mayibetriumphant' from Ao3]) Good evening little engineer.

* * *

**OTHER NOTES:** It is possible to have white hair without being due to either natural whitening of hair through ageing or Albinism, it is called **Marie Antoinette Syndrome**: a sudden whitening of the hair. The event that named the syndrome was the observation that the hair of Queen Marie Antoinette of France turned stark white after her capture after the ill-fated Flight to Varennes during the French Revolution. (It's hypothesized to be some sort of s stressor response, for more info, look it up on Google or Wikipedia).

**A/N:** Okay, okay, this fic is part of the 'Distorted Horizons' fanfic universe, which is technically a multi-crossover but there won't be any fandom overlap (in-fic crossovering) until I say so, and probably for other future fics in the series. Oh, and there is a secret crossover in this fic, try to guess before the big reveal (in PM form please, I'd rather readers either keep guessing or roar in frustration after the reveal for not seeing the obvious). My updating is sporadic, but I am working on it okay everybody? So tell me what you guys think with reviews, and 'til next time ya'll!


	2. All in Good Time

**Disclaimer:** In the prologue, it's there.

**A/N:** I'm really sorry this took so long, I really am, 2015 has been a shitty year thus far for me and it sort of got worse back in March-April and I've just been really, really sad lately. It's hard to write when I've gone over my sadness threshold, but lately I've been feeling better, more myself, less stressed and the words are flowing again. For the uninitiated(or the people who don't read the author's notes, this fic is part of a shared fanfic universe/series I call 'Distorted Horizons' it is also crossposted &amp; grouped together on Ao3 (archiveofourown . org [remove the spaces]) under my other penname 'Markala,' it is also the first fic in a series called 'Big Damn Heroes' within the series/fanfic universe of 'Distorted Horizons.' Also, yes, this is a Fic-verse where San Francisco IS San Fransokyo, San Fransokyo is canon in this(my) universe. Enjoy guys!

**POSTED: 5/31/2015 **(at 5AM in the fucking morning! Sleep? What's sleep?! No sleep for me, no siree bob!)

* * *

_After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, San Francisco was chiefly rebuilt by an influx of Japanese immigrants using techniques that allowed movement and flexibility in a seismic event. After the city was finished being rebuilt, it was renamed San Fransokyo due to the marriage of Japanese and American architecture._

* * *

**Chapter 1: All in Good Time**

The first days were… Slow.

Which was probably a good thing, because his memories resembled Swiss cheese at the moment, it was several days in and his head still felt like it was stuffed full of cotton. The young man was almost completely certain that he was nineteen years old and of Japanese-American descent, but still had no clue about his life prior to waking up in a hospital bed (at least he assumed he was in a hospital).

The Doctor was, in Amaya's words, a bitch.

Dr. Ngo was a short, sour-faced brunette with golden olive skin, whose words seemed to drip with condescension and ego ooze from every pore. She also never failed to make clear how disturbingly disappointed that he didn't need an arm or leg amputated.

…

Needless to say, he didn't like Dr. Ngo very much, the woman's smiles were all teeth, with a very disingenuous quality to them.

_Click._

The door clicked and swung open, revealing a jacket and jeans-clad Amy, stealing the young man from his thoughts.

Amaya, or Amy as she preferred, had been the one ray of sunshine in this place since he'd first woken up, and she visited frequently. Her appearance was striking, a five foot eight Japanese woman with short-cropped snow-white hair and russet amber eyes that glittered energetically.

"Mystery man!" Amy greeted enthusiastically as she shut the door, "I know my hair is the prettiest, and fluffiest you've ever seen, but my face is juuust a smidge below it."

"Gomen Amaya-san(1)." The young man laughed nervously as he fidgeted with his hands.

"Don't be so formal, I'm not high enough on the food chain for that," she corrected, "and it's Amy remember?"

"Okay Amy," he breathed, and was keenly aware of his face starting to itch, "where am I? What happened?"

He hadn't had the chance to ask during those first days, what with being in and out of drug-induced unconsciousness and all.

"Well, you were in a building…" Amy began with a pause.

He nodded.

"That was on fire."

"Thanks for the news report Captain Obvious," he snapped with irritation, then as regret pinched his insides, "sorry-"

"Hahahah!" Contrary to what he expected, Amy threw back her head and let loose a hearty, unladylike laugh, it was throaty, like a barking yip.

"I'm, very sorry?" He offered weakly.

"So now you're here, I guess," Amy shifted uncomfortably after her laughter had ceased, and started to rifle through her jacket's pockets, suddenly quiet.

"Where is here exactly?" The young man asked.

"Aha!" Amy cried victoriously, producing what looked like a linty, crumbly strip of beef jerky, before turning to look back at him, "oh yeah, forgot you don't work here, this is a private building, belongs to Boss Lady, everyone here works for her in some form or another, myself included."

"Why am I here though?"

"Um, because you were pretty crispy when I found dragged you out? I mean you needed skin grafts for the third and second degree burns and over half your body surface area didn't look too hot and shit-"

"You saved me?" He interrupted the woman's babble.

"Well, I wouldn't say that," Amy backpedalled, picking the lint off her beef jerky, "that's what Kuchisake-san, sorry, Dr. Ngo, told me when I woke up after bringing you in, I was apparently back from a bar crawl with the guys and I was apparently plastered enough to think charging into a burning building was a good idea, or maybe I was in the building before it caught fire, I don't really know, the day and a half time period that occurred in is a total blank to be honest."

"But you-?" He began, before finally spitting out the heavy question, "has anyone come for me? Missing persons? Anything?"

"Um, no, gomen(2)." Amy apologized, "and that was weeks ago, real sorry, Johnny Doe."

Strangely enough the young man didn't find her eating the linty food as disgusting as he knew it should be, but the disappointment on his face was obvious.

"Okay, okay, um, I'm sorry," Amy scooted a chair to his bedside and sat down, "I'll totally help you out!"

"You would?" He said incredulously.

"First order of business," Amy answered matter-of-factly, "a name, you need to pick one, because John and Johnny Doe doesn't suit you and it never will."

"John Doe?" He repeated curiously.

"John or Jane Doe, are placeholder names for a party whose true identity is unknown or must be withheld in a legal action, case, or discussion, or for corpses or hospital patients whose identities are unknown," Amy stated robotically, "and in your case is still in use due to your amnesiac state."

"And why can't we just use it?" The young man asked.

"Because!" Amy threw up her hands, "I look at your face and I don't see a John! It just doesn't work for you, it doesn't smell right!"

"Smell right?" The amnesiac said with abject confusion, now she'd totally lost him.

"Names and people have smells! You don't _smell_ like a John!" Amy said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "therefore you aren't! Not that there's anything wrong with John as a name, when paired with 'Doe' it doesn't work unless you're making a joke or a reference. So until we find you're real name, we have to use one that has smells right_._"

"Smells right?" Okay, maybe Amy was the wrong person to be ask-

"Is there an echo in here?" Amy snarked, steamrolling through his train of thought, "and yes, names have smells, and I associate names and the inflections in which they're pronounced and thoughts associated with certain scents, and unfortunately for you John Doe is a name I associate with the smell of a cheap, bar bathroom that I remember puking in more than once."

There was a one-sided awkward silence, Amy wasn't uncomfortable, but her conversation-mate was, did he dare ask-?

"Why?" The question was more automatic than anything.

"There was a dead body in the next stall," Amy said as if finding dead bodies were everyday occurrences, "mangled beyond all recognition, it was already there, bleeding all over the place and I was too busy puking from all the alcohol to really remember anything beyond passing out and all the legal Ōsawagi(3) that followed, so yes, John Doe carries the scent of death for you, sticking with it, sore wa fuunda(4), obviously."

"And why would you help me anyway?" He pressed, it was kind of suspicious, rescuer or not, he couldn't remember anything, how could he be sure-?

"You need a name!" Amy insisted vehemently, "how about Benjamin? No, Arthur? Eh, no, how about James?"

"Is this a hospital?" He kept pressing.

Amy ignored his question and prattled on, "English names not working for you? Japanese then, Akira? Haru? Katsu? No, K's and A's don't start right…"

"Who is the Boss Lady?" The young man tried again.

"Daisuke! No? Kohaku?"

"You're not going to give up on this are you?" He said with a defeated sigh as the woman grinned smugly.

"It's not the name John in general, I know plenty of Johns it's just the one-two punch of John Doe that doesn't work," Amy explained unhelpfully, "so unless you want the duration of this relationship to be associated and built upon the image and sensation of a cheap bar bathroom, puke and dead bodies I suggest taking one of my suggestions, now how about Aoi? Or Kenta?"

"Relationship?" The young man thought aloud, "I don't even know who I am, or anyone for that matter, what relationship?"

"Acquaintanceship, possibly friendship, hell if I know, I'm no fortune teller, and you seem like a pretty okay guy," Amy ticked off reasons with on her fingers, "better than most people I've met while drunk off my ass."

"How would you know?" He didn't even know his own name, he could be a horrible person for all he knew-!

"Well you haven't ogled or tried to grope me yet," Amy grinned softly at the incensed expression upon the bandaged young man's face, "and see? You look disgusted at the notion, like it's an affront to the universe to do something that douchey or something, you've got no poker face do you?'"

"I don't even know you, why would I grope you?" He might not remember much, but that didn't sound right, "we just met and I don't recall any agreement between us for that sort of thing?"

"Aw," Amy tapped his unbandaged cheek gently, her fingertips were smooth, "you're cute when you're flustered."

"Common decency?" The young man spoke offered.

"Not as common as you think," Amy scorn was palpable, and then she brightened back up, "but you'll probably be good in a few more weeks, the Doc said so."

"Dr. Ngo wouldn't _really_ amputate an arm in my sleep would she?" The young man asked cautiously.

"She's a real cunt." Amy stated flatly, "My advice? Avoid her," Amy quirked her eyebrows as she grimaced, "I operate under the firm belief that she not-so-secretly wants to chop us all up."

He chuckled uncomfortably, unsure if the young woman was joking or not.

Sharp pools of amber zeroed in on his discomfort and she clapped his unbandaged shoulder lightly, "don't worry about it, less interaction equals a slightly less pissy Doc."

"What about-"

_Brrrp-! Brrrp!_

Something in the young woman's pocket buzzes obnoxiously, and she flicks out a phone in almost a fraction of a second, stared at the screen for all of five seconds, gave an exasperated sigh and looked back up at the recovering young man.

"Gomen(2), I gotta take this." Amy said as she accepted the call with a, "yes, this is Amaya Kaguya speaking."

The amnesiac watched as Amy's face grew stormier by the second before she spoke, "I'll be there right away, thank you," then she ended the call.

"You alright?"

"It's fine," Amy said, scooping up her bag from a chair by his bedside as she began to rifle through it for her keys, "just gotta go knock some heads and raise some hell, I'll be back in a few hours at the least and tomorrow at most, I'll let you meet my boys."

"Something wrong?" He asked with concern as the white-haired woman's movements grew more frenzied until he heard the telltale jingle of car keys.

"Nothing, nothing," Amy rebuffed unconvincingly on her way out the door, "just gotta take care of something."

And like a gust of blustery wind, Amy had left as quickly as she had come.

A silence reigned throughout the room as the young man reached for the TV remote in hopes that flipping through the news channels would yield more answers than it had in the past few days he'd been watching.

"Inari!"

"AH!" The young man in question jerked in surprise, he hadn't even heard Amy open the door as he was greeted by the sight of the woman's head peeking through the suddenly ajar door.

"Inari! It totally suits you! It totally reminds me of something, but I forgot what it was!"

"Inar-? Wait don't I-!"

"Gotta run, sayōnara(5) Inari-kun!"

_WHAM!_

"-get a choice." The newly dubbed Inari said mere seconds after the woman had slammed the door shut and left.

_'This is going to be a normal occurrence isn't it?'_ He sighed and thought to himself.

Though, Inari wasn't a bad name he supposed, "Inari…" The name rolled off his tongue easily enough, unfamiliar like everything seemed to be these days, but a decent enough name.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he'd started to give thought to the extent of his injuries, he'd seen his chart, smoke inhalation and the third degree burns he'd sustained on his thighs, an arm and his right side that only skin grafts could save aside, it was the medley of first and second degree deep partial thickness burns he knew would leave their mark.

Second degree burns were classified into two types, superficial partial thickness burns, which only took around three weeks to heal with generally no scarring; and deep partial thickness burns characterized by pain and whiteness in the burn area, with both a longer healing period and scarring was a guarantee.

…

'_How did I know all that?'_

Was he studying to be a medical professional of some sort? A nurse? A doctor? An EMT maybe?

Inari sighed in frustration, leaning back into the pillows behind him as his mind drew up another blank yet again, with every hypothesis failing to trigger a single memory or even the hint of familiarity he'd felt when his mind suddenly spouted facts about burn treatment and burn victim statistics. He needed to-

'_No.'_ Inari told himself sternly, right now, he knew that he needed to relax, to get better. Undue stress did not aid the healing process, and-

Inari stopped, he'd done it again, well, the young man assumed that it could also be common sense, but the way it sounded… It sounded very textbook or medical journal to him, maybe-

'_No, stop it.'_ Something in him supplied, he just needed to relax, and getting well was top immediate priority right now.

Inari shifted a little as his eyes drew toward the positively ancient television as he made it flicker to life. Despite the bandages covering most of his body, the telltale pinch of an IV inserted into his mostly uninjured arm, and the muted-but-lingering pain hazing its way through the cloud of pain medications, he could feel himself relaxing and found himself looking forward to meeting 'Amy's boys.'

'_It's a start.'_ He thought, and then on a whim he decided to watch something on Animal Planet, the news was always depressing anyways.

OOOOO

"Hey Inari!"

The next day, sometime between late afternoon and the evening, the recently dubbed man in question had awoken to a familiar face, flanked by three much shorter figures, all boys around the ages of twelve or fourteen.

"I'd like you to meet my boys!" Amy declared with pride, left hand sweeping towards two of the three boys with flourish, then indicated the first, "Makoto(6)-"

A skinny, just under five foot, sullen-faced Japanese boy grunted out a short greeting as he peered out suspiciously from beneath a fluffy black mop of hair, before quickly dropping his gaze to his sneakers scuffing at the floor, hands stuffed into the pockets of the open red-accented black hoodie he had on.

"Then there's Koji(7), him and Makoto are twins obviously-" The woman then indicated the first's brother.

Koji's hair was as snow-white as his mother's, Inari surmised that Marie-Antoinette syndrome ran in the family, but the boy was identical to his brother otherwise. In stark contrast to his brother's demeanor, Koji's expression was more open, very cheerful, as he greeted Inari with a friendly wave.

"And last but certainly not least-"

"Hey, the name's Kuro, don't wear it out dude," The third interrupted smoothly; his was silky gold-blonde hair done in a pageboy cut and he wore a pink-red shirt with a stylized 'AAR' logo on its front. Kuro had a narrow, ovular face with a rounded nose and very European features; the kid had the kind of face and demeanor that Inari predicted would have Kuro beating people of both genders off with a stick in a few years, or he already was. He had a couple inches on the twins and stood with a relaxed slouch before slinging his arms around the shoulders of both the other boys, large blue eyes flashing confidently as Makoto grimacedand Koji gave a dorky grin in return as the blonde kept speaking, "hella nice to meet you Mister Inari-dude."

Inari watched as Makoto flushed red and shot the blonde boy he was squished up against a long-suffering look, craning his head away. Then Inari noticed the smattering of bruises on the three's faces and the butterfly stitches on Makoto's split lower lip and above Koji's left brow.

"We had a wicked fight yesterday!" Kuro gushed without missing a beat. "We kicked ass!"

"Not before getting your asses kicked yourselves." Amy wasn't exactly discouraging their behavior, though Inari saw Amy trying to look like she disapproved, keyword being tried… And she failed, if the wolfish grin pulling at the corners of her mouth was anything to go by. "That's why I had to leave in such a hurry yesterday, had to search and destroy."

"They 'ad it comin.'" Makoto statement then dissolved into dark mutters, Inari only catching a few snatches like 'insulted Ko' and 'called Bird-brain a fairy' among them while his hands fidgeted in his pockets. Inari was willing to bet all the money he didn't have that the kid had butterfly stitches on his knuckles too.

Inari had taken one look at the boys and felt a surge of protectiveness well up within him, they were just kids, he knew what bullies were like, picking on whatever ill-conceived flaws they could find just because they could, Inari supposed that assholery had no age limit, those little fu-

"I'm sure they did," Amy then added, "but generally speaking you're supposed to win, aaaand not get caught."

"Hmph." Makoto huffed cutely.

"So Inari-san!" Koji chimed in, "what happened to you anyways?"

"He got in a fight with Colonel Sanders and lost, obviously," Makoto snarked at his twin, "what do you think happened to him Onigiri(8)?"

Amy shot her son a 'look,' and Inari felt an odd feeling of glee that it wasn't aimed at him for once-

'_For once? When did I ever-'_

"Sorry, Kaa-chan(9), aniki(10)." Makoto looked suitably embarrassed, interrupting Inari's stray train of thought.

"To answer your question Koji, I was in an accident and can't remember anything substantial before that." Inari said truthfully.

"Just like Kaa-chan(9) then," the white-haired teen commented thoughtfully.

"You had amnesia too?" Inari blurted hopefully, turning his attention back to the snowy-haired woman.

"Hai(11)," Amy said as she rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, looking away, "all my childhood and teen years are a bit of a blur to be honest."

Realizing Amy's obvious discomfort Inari decided to drop the subject, despite his curiosity.

"So, I'm going to go out on a limb, being that it's a Thursday and about noon, and conclude that you've all been suspended?"

"Yup," Kuro said with a smirk.

"I'm missing art class." Koji said with a pout.

"Mrrrhg." Makoto grumbled, "school's stupid anyway."

"It's not stupid," Amy reprimanded lightly, "just the American public middle schools, which is why I bitched so hard to get them to skip you and your brother into high school with Kuro."

Really, Inari was learning a lot today, he thought as he watched the mother and son's back-and-forth.

"What?" Makoto said incredulously, "so after I graduate, I go to college so people can tell me stuff I already know?"

"_What? Go to college like you so people can tell me stuff I already know?"_

Where had he heard that before? Inari's ears were ringing- But there was something familiar-

"_Un-"_

"Unbelievable." The word tumbled out of Inari's mouth in a hushed whisper.

"Come again?" Amy asked as concern flitted across her face.

"Are you okay dude?" Kuro asked suddenly.

"Yeah," Koji said leaning toward Inari's bedside, "you've totally gone pale."

"'M fine," Inari placated as he began to rub at his temples, "just a headache."

"Like Kaa-chan." Koji responded.

"Hopefully it's just a headache, and not chronic migraines like mine." Amy clarified; and Inari suddenly hoped that as well.

_Brrip-briipp! Brrp-brrrip!_

Amy took one look at what Inari assumed to be a text on her phone and she sighed, "well, you'll all be get to know each other better soon anyways, has anyone told you yet?," Amy said hurriedly.

Now the young man was confused, "told me about what?"

"Well since missing persons and such has come up empty, after you get discharged from this place," Amy paused quietly as the answer dawned on Inari, "well-"

"I've got no place to go." The young man finished for her; damn, he'd been so preoccupied with trying to remember something, anything about his past that he'd forgotten to plan for the possibility of what he was going to do if he didn't have an old life to pick up on.

No money, no family, no identity, no nothing, shit-

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow your roll," Amy said in response to Inari's darkening expression, "I'm not here to give you bad news, I wouldn't hang you out to dry like that and Boss Lady certainly won't either."

"What?" Inari didn't know where this was hea-

"You're going to be bunking with us!" Koji blurted out and Makoto rolled his eyes at his twin's enthusiasm before feigning interest in the 'Lost' rerun playing on the television screen.

"Wha-? I can't," Inari protested, "I couldn't, wouldn't impose-"

"Nonsense," Amy shushed him with a finger over his lips, "you're a great deal better most people I know and I think you're on the level."

"But I can't-"

"I won't hear of it," Amy stonewalled stubbornly, "you're either staying with us or under a bridge somewhere, and Boss Lady has me on forced vacation because apparently I 'work too hard,' so man up and take the offer!"

Inari sighed internally, from the first few days of Amy's visits, he'd gleaned several things about the woman, she was bright, energetic, exceedingly helpful and above all, hard-headed. From the short conversations they'd had over the past several weeks, Inari knew she'd just battle him out into exhaustion or move him to her apartment while he slept or something.

He opened his mouth in a last ditch protest, but Amy had promptly stuffed a jelly-filled, powdered donut into it, effectively shutting him up with a victorious smirk.

"Mmmph!"

"I know, 'mmmmm this is a good donut, thank you Amy for risking life and limb to sneak them into here for me,' oh Inari you flatterer." Amy said with a coy laugh, "well, with your living arrangements taken care of and I have things I need to take care of before vacay."

Inari had finally reached up with his good, well, his better arm and removed the offending sugary goodness so he could speak, "bu-"

"Boys!" Amy exclaimed suddenly and all three turned their heads in attention, "to the cafeteria!"

Cries of 'finally' and 'I'm starved' were tossed around as the three boys seemed to barrel out of the room towards the promise of food.

Amy had stayed behind, and seated herself on the closest available bedspace, while its sole occupant looked on curiously. Then her demeanor shifted, gone was the kind, helpful woman Inari had met a few weeks prior, and in her place was a hard, rigid body language and a vicious expression.

"Inari-san, now I have a fine-tuned sense of judgment," Amy began in a no-nonsense manner, "I don't think you're a terrible person, and from what I've seen, you're a nice guy."

"But?" Inari watched as Amy leveled her steely gaze at him, as she was slowly leaning toward him.

"But I've been wrong before," Amy stated, resting a hand inside her partially open jacket, "and mistakes charge their cost in misery."

Inari nodded, silently waiting for her to finish.

"If I get a hint of any funny business," Inari's eyes widened in horror and disgust at all the implications, Amy marched on, her voice even, "even a tiny sign, that you hurt or damage my family in any way…"

Suddenly, he and Amy were nose to nose, molten amber orbs boring into black.

"Let's just say that there'll be nothing of you to find."

Inari nodded, stomach flopping a bit, and a bitter anger starting to curl in his gut on Amy and the boy's behalves. Who would hurt them? Who hurt them? How? Where did whoever those no-good pieces of-

Amy smiled softly as she watched his face intently and Inari blushed self-consciously, realizing that several minutes had passed by in silence. Was he that transparent-?

"Yes, well," Amy said as she cleared her throat, "you need to work on your poker face and one can't be too careful you know? And well, those kids are my whole world, you intentionally hurt them, I fuck you up with the fiery wrath of an angry Goddess, capisce?"

"I don't expect anything less." Inari answered candidly.

"Good, because thus far, I kinda like you Inari," Amy said with a light clap to the young man's shoulder, "don't fuck it up."

"I'll do my best."

"And on that note, Boss-sama's the one who came up the living arrangements," Amy told him, "I would have offered, but she said it first, and then she told me to consider this like a vacation assignment."

Oh, so he was just an assignment, which totally made more sen-

"Don't look at me like that," Amy said sternly, "I wouldn't put you up if I didn't want to, and despite my co-workers statements to the contrary, I'm nobody's bitch, not even Boss Lady's."

"Well, thanks anyways." Inari said, still uncomfortable with the idea of staying for free.

"Okay then," Amy said as she adjusted the messenger bag strap on her shoulder, "I gotta go, Boss Lady called and I need to make sure the boys haven't burned the place down-"

The young woman then paused with a cringe, "sorry, bad joke."

"No, it's fine," Inari said with a wan smile, his headache being replaced with sudden exhaustion, "go feed your kids and talk to your boss."

"See ya soon!" Amy said with a wave, then eyed Inari with genuine concern, "don't push it too hard, memories will come back when they come back, all in good time 'kay?"

And with that last piece of advice, Inari was left alone with his thoughts and a weird sudden craving for extremely spicy chicken wings as his thoughts went adrift…

Maybe he just needed to relax, let everything flow and everything would come in time… Eyes slid shut, and their owner slept-

"_Who's ready to have their faces melted?"_

"_I am!"_

"_Me too!"_

_Children laughing, light, warmth-_

_BOOM!_

_Flames, terror, where'stheexit? Can'tfind-! Can'tbreathcan'tbreathcan't-!_

_Painpainpainpain-!_

_Dark._

* * *

_Meanwhile in an undisclosed location…  
_The room was dark, with its dimly lit stained concrete walls, crates sat in piles as makeshift seats, shelves and tables all covered in clutter. And a skinny figure hobbled quietly to the lone worktable, looking at the pitifully small pile of charred-but-functional black metal pieces. The wall above the worktable was littered with maps, sticky notes, push-pins, strings and scrawled notes that the workspace's owner had appropriated from the captive's apartment weeks ago.

The figure sighed, rubbing an arm slowly and a sad smile graced those cracked lips, as the woman stared mournfully at the prosthetic leg propped up against an adjacent wall near her workspace, removing it from her captive's person had been a necessary evil, she reasoned to herself repeatedly.

She heard her captive scream in from his cell down the hall, the captive's futile effort to convince her away from her mission no doubt.

'_Or to fill the silence.'_ Her mind supplied with sympathy.

She couldn't let her captive go, '_not yet, not yet, itburnsitburns…'_

She hunched over the desk for three hours and as the twenty-third piece of pellet-sized metal shorted out for the fortieth time and was subsequently ruined as the female stared at the offending technology hatefully.

'_I hate science.'_

Two hours of ineffectual tinkering and staring and conjecturing the incomplete blueprints had her come to one conclusion. Then woman then beckoned her taller, muscled companion who stiffly wandered his way to her side from his corner.

The smell of decay and formaldehyde grew stronger, and her mind was starting to go fuzzy again… She vaguely acknowledged the need to let off steam soon, her arm and back felt like they were boiling…

'_**Burnburnburn, devourcrushki-!'**_

"Take care of the captive's schedule R-" her voice choked with emotion, "Bob, 'kay?"

The aforementioned Bob grunted stiffly before shuffling out of the room as she grazed her fingers through the small pile of,_ necessary-!_ Ill-gotten gains.

'_Such harmless looking things,'_ she thought as she adjusted the headpiece to fit, and the metal pellets twitched to life, sliding over their new master's hand like an ever-shifting glove, _'but, the most dangerous things usually are.'_

Several days after the captive first awoke in his cell, he had developed the routine of cursing, rather, screaming very loudly every evening. She couldn't release him yet, it wasn't his fault that she couldn't tell him why he was here; everything would be ruined if she did!

'_No-one understands yet.'_ Her arm and body seemed to burn and throb bitterly.

It had to be tricked, but no-one could know, not yet, but soon.

In full get-up, the woman stood before the gunmetal grey cell door down the hall, black-and-red carbon-fiber boots putting their spring into her step.

She had made it lights out for a while, maybe he was sleeping.

"All will be made clear," her whisper was almost inaudible, like a soft croon, "in time, just… Give me some time."

With those words she then turned and left.

Failure was _not_ an option.

* * *

**Translation/s &amp; Glossary(as provided by Google Translate, corrections from people who know better are appreciated):  
**(1) Gomen Amaya-san = (Japanese, Amaya is the name, -san is an honorific suffix) Sorry Amaya.  
(2) Gomen = (Japanese) Sorry  
(3) Ōsawagi = (Japanese, I was surprised that this translation existed) hullabaloo  
(4) Sore wa fuunda = (Japanese) It's bad luck.  
(5) sayōnara = (Japanese) goodbye  
(6) Makoto (誠) = (Japanese) unisex name meaning "sincere, true"  
(7) Koji (光司) = (Japanese) name meaning "light/shining second (child)."  
(8) Onigiri = Japanese rice ball dish, (yes, Makoto's nickname for his brother is 'Rice Ball')  
(9) Kaa-chan = (Japanese) informal way of saying mom  
(10) aniki = (Japanese) informal, "big bro"  
(11) Hai = (Japanese) yes

* * *

**A/N:** Holy crap it's been a while huh? Well, what a chapter, character establishment up the woot! I'm not kidding, none of the introduced characters (except Dr. Ngo whom we actually have only seen in exposition, not an actual scene) are OC's, I'm still waiting for people to guess the crossover/fusion/whatever, seriously, go ahead just say it in the comments/reviews for all to see, I don't mind. Seriously, I used foreshadowing, foreshadowing! I'm improving! YAY! Anyway, yeah even with amnesia, Tadashi still has a protective streak a mile wide, everyone can see it and we love him for it. All the mysteriousness, who's the mysterious woman? What the hell's going on? Hooray mystery! If anyone finds any mistakes/typos or accidental lapses in tense feel free to tell me. 'Til next chap!


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